Candi Staton has been singing on stages around the world for more than 70 years, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down. For the first time in 40 years, she earned a nomination at this year’s Grammy Awards. Younger audiences are also discovering her music on TikTok.
When Staton sings “Amazing Grace,” it is more than just an old hymn; it’s her life’s journey.
*** AI tools threaten to hide CBN News from your online searches! Sign up for CBN Newsletters today to ensure you can still find the latest news from a Christian perspective.***
From Hanceville, Alabama to becoming a singer and songwriter; she is often celebrated as the “First Lady of Southern Soul.” She shared with CBN News’ Studio 5 her memory of her first journey into music.
“My first record was ‘I’d Rather be an Old Man’s Sweetheart than a Young Man’s Fool.’ Oh my God. It went 700,000 because they thought I was Aretha {Franklin} before they knew who I really was.”
With more than 30 studio albums, her hits span R&B, Disco, and Gospel. Her latest album “Back to My Roots” just earned her another Grammy nomination. She shared her thoughts on receiving the good news.
“That was the last thing I was expecting to hear. Really? Really? 40 years? Whoa. I had four of them. Yeah. Four nominations, but I never won.”
One of the tracks on the project features her talking about a tragic time in 1963.
Staton said, “Oh my God. Yes. I was there. I was there. We were there that Sunday. It was a Sunday morning. We were guests at this local church and we were in Birmingham. I had two little boys; Marcel and Marcus and I was pregnant with my third little boy. We were there and I had already sung preparing for the pastor to preach and this deacon burst through the door and he said, ‘Get up and get out now.’ He said, ‘There’s been a catastrophe.’ Down the street, he said that four little girls just got killed; 16th Street Baptist Church just got blown up. And he said, ‘Y’all need to get out because it’s a mess. It’s a mess and you got to go through Birmingham to get to where you’re going.’ Well, we got downtown. It was a mess. People were throwing bottles. People were breaking in stores. People were pushing cars over. I mean, the black people were pushing the white cars. I’m just going to be real. But the black cars, they would say, ‘Y’all can go. Y’all can just go.’ But they were so angry at the KKK until it was horrible. Somehow through prayer and keeping our minds focused on God, he brought us through that.”
It hasn’t been easy for Staton in her 7 decades in the industry. But she is still doing the work.
“I’m going to do it until the Lord calls me home. That’s my job. He gave me a purpose and I’m standing on that purpose, standing firm. Nothing can stop me. I’ve had all kinds of obstacles. Satan has tried every trick in the book to kill me because he can’t kill me because God ain’t going to let him. I’ve been through cancer. I’ve been through divorces. I’ve been through hard times. I’ve been through everything that you can imagine,” Staton told CBN News’ Studio 5.
“I’m a mother of five grown children that I was a single mom that had to raise them by myself because you see one thing about me, you got to understand I’m not going to take it. See, I’m not taking a lot of stuff a lot of people would take. And when you start to put your hands on me, I’m out of there. I’m not going to wait around and wait for you all to say ashes to ashes and dust to dust. I’m not going to wait around it for that.”
God’s grace sustained Station in the toughest times. He even used her greatest pain to produce her biggest hit called “Young Hearts Run Free” in 1976. Kids today are singing it. She shared with CBN News’ Studio 5 why this song is significant.
Staton said, “That song will never go. It’ll never go out. I was with this abusive husband. He was a gangster. I’ve married some horrible people, but you know what? It was all in my journey to make me strong as I am today. I’m still alive at 86.”
“David was my first producer with Warner Brothers. And I would sit there and talk to him. I said, ‘David, man, what can I do with this?’ I said, ‘This guy said he was going to kill my kids.’ He would be writing. He just kept writing. I’m like, ‘What is he writing?’ David had fasted 40 days and he said, ‘I asked God to give me a song that would never go away. Give me a song that would never go away.’ He said, ‘This song will never end. You’re going to have a song forever.’ Generations after generations would be able to sing this song.”
“The reason there’s so much feeling in it, I sung my whole story in three minutes. And the music started, I sung it down once, just once and he said, ‘You can come in now. I got what I want.’ That’s how Young Hearts Run Free was birthed,” she continued.
Fifty years later and the song is still finding new audiences. And God’s amazing grace is keeping Staton and her voice to share it.
